The word itself originates from the SanskritJivás, with the root jīv- 'to breathe'. It has the same Indo-European root as the Latin word Vivus: "Alive".
In Hinduism and Jainism, a jiva (Sanskrit: जीव, jīva alternate spelling, jiwa) is a living being,[1] or more specifically, the immortal essence of a living organism (human, animal, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death.[2][3] It has a very similar usage to 'atma', but whereas atma refers to 'the cosmic self', 'jiva' is used to denote an individual 'living entity' or 'living being' specifically. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiva
A separated unit of consciousness.
Glossary of Alice A Bailey writings
Some quotes from the teachings of Djwhal Khul:
The working out in the future will depend upon the intuition or high perception of the thinkers of the race and upon the ability of the incarnating jivas to seize upon the opportunities and fulfil their destiny.
LOM, p 305
This has been called in some translations "complete obedience to the Master" and this is the true and accurate translation but in view of the fact that the word Master connotes (to the occult student) one of the adepts, we have chosen to translate the word as "Ishvara," the one God in the heart of man, the divine Jiva or "point of divine life" at the center of man's being. This is the same in all men, whether savage or adept; the difference only lies in degree of manifestation and of control. YSP, p 125
All human beings, or "Imperishable Jivas," are those who evolve through a graded series of initiations, either self-induced or brought about on our planet with extraneous aid. They achieve through a "marriage" with the order next to them, the fifth. They are then completed or perfected... EA, p 42
As is stated in The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, 238, this Hierarchy is the nursery for the incarnating Jivas; and it carried in it the germs of the Lives which achieved the human stage in another solar system, but were not able to proceed beyond that owing to the coming in of pralaya, which projected them into a state of latency. EA, p 43
Each of the three Logoi, when in manifestation and thus personified, is exemplifying some one quality which predominates over the others. Each, more or less, exemplifies all, but each demonstrates one of the three aspects so profoundly as to be recognized as that aspect itself. In much the same way, for instance, the different incarnating jivas carry a vibration which is their main measure, though they may also have lesser vibrations that are subsidiary to them. TOCF, p 142
The reincarnating jiva, for instance, lost in the maze of illusion, begins in course of time to recognize (under the Law of Attraction) the vibration of its own Ego, which stands to it as the Logos of its own system, its deity in the three worlds of experience. TOCF, p 145
It is the law that destroys the final sheath that separates the perfected Jiva. TOCF, p 582 [speaking of the Law of Disintegration]
The devas are the mother aspect, the builders of the body, and the reincarnating Jivas are the son aspect; yet the two are but one, and the result is the divine hermaphroditic man. TOCF, p 593
The energy transmitted from the manasic permanent atom of each incarnating jiva, its union with its reflection, the energy of the mental unit, and the triple stream of force thus created on the mental plane, has its planetary reflection in the relation of Saturn to another planetary scheme, and the three rings which are energy rings, and symbols of an inner verity. TOCF, p 1113
Thus the potentialities latent in the incarnating jiva are stupendous, and he can become as God, provided he submits to the evolutionary process, and does not [1117] "refrain from being stretched upon the wheel." TOCF, p 1115
As we know, the Sons of Mind or the incarnating jivas are the returning nirvanis of a previous logoic incarnation. They have achieved mind, and need love. TOCF, p 1125
Jiva
The word itself originates from the Sanskrit Jivás, with the root jīv- 'to breathe'. It has the same Indo-European root as the Latin word Vivus: "Alive".
In Hinduism and Jainism, a jiva (Sanskrit: जीव, jīva alternate spelling, jiwa) is a living being,[1] or more specifically, the immortal essence of a living organism (human, animal, fish or plant etc.) which survives physical death.[2][3] It has a very similar usage to 'atma', but whereas atma refers to 'the cosmic self', 'jiva' is used to denote an individual 'living entity' or 'living being' specifically.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiva
A separated unit of consciousness.
Glossary of Alice A Bailey writings
Some quotes from the teachings of Djwhal Khul:
The working out in the future will depend upon the intuition or high perception of the thinkers of the race and upon the ability of the incarnating jivas to seize upon the opportunities and fulfil their destiny.
LOM, p 305
This has been called in some translations "complete obedience to the Master" and this is the true and accurate translation but in view of the fact that the word Master connotes (to the occult student) one of the adepts, we have chosen to translate the word as "Ishvara," the one God in the heart of man, the divine Jiva or "point of divine life" at the center of man's being. This is the same in all men, whether savage or adept; the difference only lies in degree of manifestation and of control. YSP, p 125
All human beings, or "Imperishable Jivas," are those who evolve through a graded series of initiations, either self-induced or brought about on our planet with extraneous aid. They achieve through a "marriage" with the order next to them, the fifth. They are then completed or perfected... EA, p 42
As is stated in The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, 238, this Hierarchy is the nursery for the incarnating Jivas; and it carried in it the germs of the Lives which achieved the human stage in another solar system, but were not able to proceed beyond that owing to the coming in of pralaya, which projected them into a state of latency. EA, p 43
Each of the three Logoi, when in manifestation and thus personified, is exemplifying some one quality which predominates over the others. Each, more or less, exemplifies all, but each demonstrates one of the three aspects so profoundly as to be recognized as that aspect itself. In much the same way, for instance, the different incarnating jivas carry a vibration which is their main measure, though they may also have lesser vibrations that are subsidiary to them. TOCF, p 142
The reincarnating jiva, for instance, lost in the maze of illusion, begins in course of time to recognize (under the Law of Attraction) the vibration of its own Ego, which stands to it as the Logos of its own system, its deity in the three worlds of experience. TOCF, p 145
It is the law that destroys the final sheath that separates the perfected Jiva. TOCF, p 582 [speaking of the Law of Disintegration]
The devas are the mother aspect, the builders of the body, and the reincarnating Jivas are the son aspect; yet the two are but one, and the result is the divine hermaphroditic man. TOCF, p 593
The energy transmitted from the manasic permanent atom of each incarnating jiva, its union with its reflection, the energy of the mental unit, and the triple stream of force thus created on the mental plane, has its planetary reflection in the relation of Saturn to another planetary scheme, and the three rings which are energy rings, and symbols of an inner verity. TOCF, p 1113
Thus the potentialities latent in the incarnating jiva are stupendous, and he can become as God, provided he submits to the evolutionary process, and does not [1117] "refrain from being stretched upon the wheel." TOCF, p 1115
As we know, the Sons of Mind or the incarnating jivas are the returning nirvanis of a previous logoic incarnation. They have achieved mind, and need love. TOCF, p 1125